VOTING RIGHTS DISCUSSION WITH LOUDLIGHT AND MISSOURI VOTER PARTICIPATION COALITION

Host Terri Wilke talks with Melissa Stiehler, Advocacy Director for Loud Light, whose mission is to engage, educate, and empower individuals from underrepresented populations to build community power that has an impact on decision makers.  They’re transforming Kansas because of their informative videos, coalition building, civic engagement, youth voter turnout. Voting can help everyone become a visible force for good in our communities.

Loud Light is a party in one of the lawsuits in opposition to the new congressional voting districts in Kansas.  Melissa shares her insights on the importance of voting as a tool to create change.  Elected representatives can create and pass legislation that impact us all.

https://www.loudlight.org/

As always, listeners are welcome to call the KKFI station at 816-931-5534 with comments or questions.

After the calendar, in the second half of our hour, host Melvin Merritt speaks with Denise Lieberman, a civil rights lawyer, who serves as Director and General Counsel of the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition (MVPC), a nonpartisan statewide network of voter advocates. A nationally recognized voting rights expert, Denise has testified on voting rights before Congress and previously served as director of Power & Democracy for Advancement Project National Office in Washington DC, a racial justice organization, where she brought lawsuits on voter ID laws, early voting requirements and rights restoration in states like Missouri, North Carolina, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Florida and others. Denise is also faculty director of the Voter Access and Engagement Initiative at Washington University in St. Louis, where she is an adjunct professor of law and political science. Denise has been at the forefront of voting rights debates in her home state of Missouri and across the country. She brought two lawsuits to ensure Missourians could safely cast ballots amid the pandemic and is currently leading the fight to oppose photo ID requirements in the Missouri Legislature. Denise also serves on multiple national voting rights task forces to advance federal voting reform and has served as a consultant with the Brennan Center for Justice on voting rights work in Georgia, North Carolina, Texas and others. In her role with the MVPC, Denise coordinates statewide nonpartisan Election Protection efforts in Missouri

https://www.facebook.com/ProtectMissouriVoters/

This link is for the MVPC legislative facts sheet:

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=bc088bf752&attid=0.1.1&permmsgid=msg-f:1725115583190534570&th=17f0d77b9c9009aa&view=att&disp=inline

WE THANK EVERYONE WHO GAVE TO US DURING THE WINTER FUND DRIVE.

Let’s continue to share ears, hearts and dollars to keep our programming alive.

We hope you will listen.  On Jaws of Justice, we examine how to find justice in our society.  Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.

Please tune in https://kkfi.org/listen/

Calendar for the week of February 21st:

• The Kansas City Chapter of Missouri Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants has a monthly virtual meeting. MO CURE advocates for the human rights of prisoners in Missouri prisons and jails as well as those who have returned to society.   For info call Keith Brown El at 816-377-2873.
• WED, Feb 23rd, 6 PM, MADP Monthly Meetup- discuss Black History and the Death Penalty w/ Travis Harris, Ph.D., Director of Black Revolutionary Education for the International Black Freedom Alliance.  Register at https://www.madpmo.org/
• THURS, Feb. 24th, 5:30 PM, Pass Me the Mic: live at the Spencer Museum of Art, 1301 Mississippi, Lawrence KS. BLM Lawrence & Spencer Museum ask us to join for an open mic night and celebration of Black history and futures. More info at https://www.facebook.com/BLMLFK
• THURS, Feb 24^th, 6 PM, For the People: Capital Punishment and Criminal Justice Reform with Larry Krasner, Philadelphia DA is a virtual event, all are welcome, register to attend at https://www.madpmo.org/
• THURS, Feb. 24th, 7 PM, February Membership Meeting is Championing Black Women – Centering Blackness in the Fight for Reproductive Justice, an online event of the GKC Women’s Political Caucus. Register for the meeting here: https://us02web.zoom.us/…/tZ0ucuqgpjstH9COE6obQDgU7J9w…
• FRI, Feb. 25th, 11 AM, Empower Missouri’s Criminal Justice Coalition is online. Access at https://empowermissouri.org/
• SAT, Feb. 26th 2 PM, Screening: Just Mercy: at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 New Hampshire, Lawrence KS. You can see the compelling story of a civil rights attorney who worked to free a wrongly condemned death row prisoner. The film will be preceded by remarks from Ursula Minor, President of the Lawrence Chapter NAACP, and the Rev. Verdell Taylor. Masks and proof of vaccination are required. Admission is FREE but online ticket registration is required to adhere to capacity limits. See on Eventbrite. All are invited!
• SAT, Feb. 26th, 4 PM, I Have a Dream (Home) Action & Celebration Event Honoring Dr Martin Luther King Jr, a hybrid, both live and virtual event at the Village Presbyterian Church, 6641 Mission Rd, Prairie Village KS. Guest Speaker Jacob A. Wagner, PhD, Associate Professor, Director of Urban Studies, UMKC and others, no cost, register on Eventbrite

• A list of services, meals, and hot lines are available at lawrenceprogressivecalendar.blogspot.com.

Thanks to all our listeners, stay close to your dial and stay well!

Share This Episode